I'm a big fan of the new jazz style emerging that incorporates touches of '70s soul, contemporary electronica and hip-hop. Exponents of this movement include pianist Robert Glasper, bassist Esperanza Spalding and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Add to the list José James, a vocalist with retro smarts and a clear vision of where this jazz style is heading next.
James's new album—No Beginning, No End—is his fourth CD and a major step forward for the eclectic genre. If you've been listening to all sorts of exciting African-American music since the '60s, you'll hear their threads running throughout James's music here.
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I'm not such a big fan of the style. There are a lot of jazz hardliners who don't like it because they don't like jazz miscegenating with anything. Obviously, I think that's a silly position to hold. Jazz is the product of multiple miscegentions. We ought to love and embrace and perpetuate that aspect of the music. No, my problem with a lot of what passes for hip-hop and soul crossover is that so much of it is mediocre at best (Glasper's album for instance. Or Nicholas Payton's Bitches) and still it gets praised by critics. Because they imagine this music has powerful crossover appeal to contemporary black audiences and, generally, jazz critics are highly succeptible to white guilt. Or because they fear jazz is dying and these releases are seen as a sign of a turnaround. As much praise as Esperanza Spalding got a couple years ago--and much of i deserved--how often have we pulled out her cd since it went into the archive? (Answer: Marshall played it 6 times last year. All other DJs: 0) Jazz won't be saved by mediocre music. And contemporary black audiences won't be won over to jazz by crappy, bland, ill-conceived or forgettble attempts at crossover. I look forward to hearing whether Jose James can turn me around on this trend. --eric